Traditional Halling tune - Fanitullen

The Devils Ditty


A Hardanger fiddle (or in Norwegian: hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument used originally to play the music of Norway. In modern designs, the instruments are very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than four as on a standard violin) and thinner wood. Four of the strings are strung and played like a violin, while the rest, aptly named understrings or sympathetic strings, resonate under the influence of the other four, providing a pleasant haunting, echo-like sound. In many folktales the devil is associated with the Hardingfele, in fact many good players were said to have been taught to play by the devil himself. Fanitullen is the name of one of the most famous norwegian folktunes. It means «The Devil’s Tune», and according to legend, Fanitullen was conceived on a farm in Hol in the valley of Hallingdal in 1724 during a violent and bloody wedding. When one of the participants went to get more mead he saw the Devil himself sit on the barrel playing this tune on his fiddle.

During religious revivals in the 1800s many fiddles (regular and Hardanger) were destroyed or hidden both by fiddlers and laypeople who thought that it would be best for the soul that the fiddles be burned, as it was viewed as a sinful instrument that encouraged wild dances, drinking and fights.
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